Free association.

Freedom of the individual.

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I wasn't aware of a single libertarian who thinks that what we've got now qualifies as a free market.

I'm aware of many so called libertarians (including here) who are viciously against some market interventions yet support others. Mostly it's the pro-corporatist interventions they either support or are notably silent about and the pro-labor ones that they are viciously against.

Also, a free market is a theoretical construct - it is not feasible in practice anywhere. Markets can become a closer approximation of a free market but that is all.

Likewise, many libertarians are often against much state intervention that creates markets that are more free if it comes at the expense of what they consider personal liberties.

Why? Most market interventions that help in this way are done so to reduce risk or increase information about the potential transaction for one party. That can violate people's privacy and violate peoples' freedoms even if it makes the market more efficient.

If one's sexuality has an impact on the statistical likelihood of risk of claims against said insurance -- you bet your ass it does.

Say, for example, someone were to start selling heart-disease insurance. Study after study has shown that black men are more likely to die of heart attack than other ethnicities.

Withholding your race in order to get better terms -- as someone of lower risk than you actually are -- would be an act of fraud, if you were asked it.

And furthermore; in a properly liberalized market, there would be a sufficient distribution of insurers that someone wouldn't adjust your rate if you happened to be black or bisexual or two-headed or whatever. That is one of the few things that the recent health bill actually did get right: it eliminated anti-competition legislation already in place, and made it legal to purchase insurance across state lines. It is thoroughly disgusting that such laws existed in the first place.

Of course no libertarian will argue that the U.S. currently employs a free market system; however, I have seen many libertarians begrudgingly defend and apologize for the transgressions of large corporations, particularly in the areas of "privatization" and free trade agreements, that are directly antithetical to libertarian free market ethics. This observation is the theme of the article in question.

Well, I'm in college, which might account for some of the disparity, but I'm not sure that you can deny that many conservatives-in-libertarian-clothing mistake the current corporate form for the penultimate representation of the virtues of free markets.

This is a touchy issue, because there is a freedom component to many trades that take place. That part should be defended. It is irresponsible to throw one's hands up in the air and condemn everything simply because there is so much government involvement.

Well Its hard because when i attack the corporations i sound like a socialist. Then when i say i want to be able to make alot of money in this country and not pay anything in taxes and live free. It because people are so stupid and dont research this. They are too busy with american idol.